Yes in Christ

Sometimes change is just a breath of wind that involves a slight alteration.  Something small that you just need to readjust to.  Sometimes it's more like a strong gust that takes your steps to unexpected places, suddenly, without preparation.  Other times change might be the stormy gales that force you to batten down and take cover and wait for the storm to pass before you re-emerge and try to take in what has occurred.  And then there's the change that's a tornado, picking you up and putting you someplace entirely new and unexpected, a change you cannot control or stop.  A force to be reckoned with and change so powerful that it leaves you more than breathless, but bruised and shaken up. 

No matter the force of the wind, the speed of the wind, or the end result of the wind, it will always leave you altered, different.  Words spoken, changing your opinions and ideas; people leaving, leaving empty spaces in your life that take time to fill or adjust to; friendships shifting that leave you either filled and rejoicing or confused and hurt; growing up and making decisions and choices that affect you the rest of your life; events occurring that leave indelible marks on your heart.

Psalm 90:14 begs this of the Lord: "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."  There is nothing on this earth that will satisfy our hearts.  We will never "arrive" while here on earth, and feel complete and full and finished.  Changes occur and leave "holes" or "bumps" or "cracks" in our lives, and we attempt to fill them and fix them with people, or stuff, or words, or busyness. But the only thing that satisfies, the only thing that fills, fixes, heals, redeems, protects, renews, is the steadfast love of Christ Jesus.  He is our refuge, our dwelling place, our shelter from the storm. Psalm 90:1, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all  generations." 

I have found that when gales destroy what "peace" I have created for myself, when gusts remove the security blankets I have wrapped around my life, when tornadoes remove me from the shelter I have been seeking, that is when I see clearly that Christ is the only steadfast presence in my life.  When change occurs in my life, I begin to see that the only Rock that I can stand on is Christ.

As the old hymn declares, "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand."  When the winds threaten to overwhelm you or overtake you, may your confidence come from Christ and the steadfast love that He promises, knowing that His "precious and very great promises" (2 Peter 1:4 ) are "yes in Christ" (2 Cor. 1:20 ).    

This One Time, at Worldview...

This One Time at Worldview 

*I learned what it meant to love someone despite their appearance.

               *I learned that cafeteria food really and truly will never be as good as mom's home cooking.

                       *I saw truth and grace put into action.

     *I realized just how delightful a fresh, ripe piece of fruit can be.

*I swore off eating Starbursts, maybe forever.

               *I learned that camp will not fall into the ocean if I mess something up.

*I reminded myself that "It's Not About Me" over and over again. 

                                   *I learned how challenging and yet rewarding it can be to be placed in a position of leadership.

           *I preached the Gospel to myself and others. 

     *I picked up on the quirks of staffers, faculty and students alike.

*I realized how quickly staff meetings can be derailed: "There goes the bunny!!!"

                        *I saw Mount Emily in Idaho.

*I discussed the philosophy of color teams, ran circles through the argument of predestination and talked about the beauty of the Gospel.

       *I drew pictures of Ephesians chapter 2.

                        *I laughed and cried with students and staffers.

    *I saw how deep a 17-year-old can dig into the Word of God and how the Gospel can be grasped at  any age, yet it never ever grows old.

*I walked hundreds of miles over hills and sidewalks and grass.

   *I began to try to understand what it meant that God loved me.

                     *I rode for hours stuffed into a 15-passenger van.

          *I sang the same worship songs over and over, yet their truths never got stale.

*I shook the hands of hundreds of parents and students.

                   *I made friends with people who turned into family before the end of the summer. 

            *I tasted the bittersweet farewell of saying goodbyes to people I may not see for a long time.

                   *I figured out just how long I could go without enough sleep.

                        *I discovered the goodness of coffee when you are running on very little sleep.

                                   *I tasted the goodness of God. 

The 2011 WVA West Coast Staff Team

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your work is not in vain."  1 Corinthians 15:58.

Exaggerations

"'Camp' is a vision of the world in terms of style - but a particular style. It is the love of the exaggerated." -Susan Sontag

It is easy to get caught up in camp.  There are certain things that happen at camp that don't happen anywhere else.  My camp director often reminds us that big decisions are made at camp for reasons we may not understand.  In some ways, this makes a staffer's job feel more weighty.  We are part of this decision-making for students, decisions that may change the course of their life. 

However, it is also easy to get caught in the "holy huddle" of camp.  It is easy to let your mindset follow this pattern: Important things only happen at camp. This is the best place to find friends like myself.  Camp is way better than home. 

Camp is a love of the exaggerated - we take Christians who are serious about their faith and stick them on college campuses and in vans for 8 weeks of the summer.  We bring together students who desire to learn and grow and live with them for a week.  Camp often brings out the best in people.  We discuss theological ideas and deep questions that aren't often emphasized or thought about outside of the camp arena. We exaggerate specific things in order to help the students understand.  Our friendships are 'exaggerated' in a way - closeness and bonding is quick and nearly immediate as staffers are put into a make-it-or-break-it kind of situation.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Staffers and students alike often leave camp changed for the better, with goals and desires that they take back home.  Many times they depart camp a transformed person. 

But it is easy to get caught up in the mindset that things at home just aren't as good.  When camp becomes an exaggerated "good" and "real" life is no longer cherished, the love of the exaggerated gets in the way of growth at home. 

As camp winds down and we finish up our last week of camp, my mind is beginning to turn toward the transition out of camp.  I'll leave the huddle of Worldview and head back into the daily routines of home and school.  It can be hard to adjust out of "camp mode", but this year, I am eager to take the knowledge that I have gained this summer and let it renew my mind and heart at home. 

This post is similar to the previous post on growth and change [http://efairbaugh.blogspot.com/2011/07/growing-through-change.html].  Departing camp is a hard change that brings tears and reflection but it also brings about some major growth spurts as well.  It is these times of growing and learning that my heart is already looking forward to. 

Right now, the challenge is to remain in "camp mode" and let this week be the best week of camp for the students that I have, even as I anticipate my return to Pennsylvania on Saturday.

May the love of the exaggerated at camp turn into a love for the same growth, development, learning, bonding, and discipleship at home.

May your lives where you are now not depend on certain exaggerations but may the be grounded and steadfast in the person of Christ and His death and resurrection.

Growing Through Change

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.”   This is a quote by an anonymous source, and I find it not only fascinating but also fitting with camp.  Life at camp is not just change, it is constant change.  Every week I am in a different state, a different bed, a different cafeteria and working with a different small group.

Life is full of changes.  When I return home after camp, I'll be swept through another series of changes, as my sister packs up and leaves for Honduras, as I head back to school for my senior year of college and as my little brother joins me, starting his freshman year.

I think we all understand and can see that life is full of changes. 

Growth, however, is optional.  We can walk through life and never allow ourselves to soak in the lessons we've learned.  We can avoid truth and not let the Scriptures have an affect on our lives.  I was listening to our camp director talk to the students this past week at campfire.  He encourages them to start applying what they've learned at camp the day that they arrive at home, or else the things they've planted in their heads at camp will never grow to maturity.

I started to question whether I was doing that. Do I take what I've learned each camp week and apply it to my next week of camp, or do I file it away for "another time".  Do I allow myself to grow as a person while I'm at camp?  Do I let the changes I go through push me to be more Christlike? Or do I avoid growth and personal change?  Do I put off till 'after camp' what I could be doing right now?

Change is meant to spur on growth. 

This week, my girls have been amazing.  I have time to simply enjoy being their small group leader without worrying or frantically redesigning and restructuring small group times.  This week could swing either way with change. I can choose to sit back and enjoy my week without allowing myself to be further sanctified or allowing change to produce growth.  This is the easy way out.  Or I can use the 'extra' time I have to seek God in even greater ways and to desire sanctification even more.

Are you allowing the changes in your life to produce growth?  Or are you watching as the change drifts by and you remain the same?

May we "be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12: 1) so that we can be "sanctified in the truth, God's Word is truth" (John 17:17).